Photo by Tensquare.
Words by: Duke DuRock
The beauty of electronic music is that it comes in so many different styles. And while it’s always fun raging to some bombastic beats on the dance floor, other times it’s a beautiful experience to embrace more organic sounds. Welder, the headliner for our next show at King King on November 10th, offers just that.
This mysterious masked figure may sound unfamiliar to some at first. He’s actually the brainchild of Brendan Angelides, the enigmatic producer who is perhaps best known by his other recording alias, Eskmo.
“The Welder material just had a very different voice and mindset than the Eskmo material,” explained Angelides during a break in his recent European tour. “I wanted to be able to play full-on, downtempo sets sometimes. This wouldn’t be possible with the direction that Eskmo was traveling in at the time. Overall music has always been about therapy and soul searching, so this has allowed me to dive into different worlds.”
First New Album in 5 Years
After releasing his most recent Eskmo album on the esteemed Ninja Tune label in 2010, Angelides decided to revisit his Welder project, through which he hadn’t put out an album since 2006’s acclaimed “Vines & Streams.” On his sophomore effort, “Floresence,” the producer continues to infuse organic, textured and multi-layered downtempo sounds, to make for a truly cinematic listening experience.
“Deep emotional turbulence and psychic upheaval translated into a grounding resolution,” said Angelides of how the album came together. “Sounds silly to say it that way, but it honestly was a direct reflection of things happening in my life at the time.”
The songs that make up “Floresence” offer listeners something different while maintaining a coherent flow, which makes for a complete album. On the penultimate track “Be My Light” (which Welder has kindly given us to share with you as a FREE download), all of the elements that make listening to Welder’s music such a joy are present. “It was representative of a certain time period within that aforementioned turbulence,” said Angelides. “’Be My Light’ encompasses a lot for me and is a sort of foundation on which other tracks can rest.”
Photo by Watchara.
A Standout Moment at Lightning in a Bottle
When listening to both Eskmo and Welder records, you’ll notice some similarities. But ultimately Eskmo material is more uptempo as evidenced by his energetic set at Lightning in a Bottle (LIB) this past year – a standout moment for many and particularly memorable for the producer himself. “It’s always a refreshing change to play festivals on beautiful plots of land,” recalled Angelides of his LIB experience. “Some of my best moments have been performing while looking at trees. And, with LIB, to have a massive lake right next all of us as well, surrounded by mountains in the distance, was huge.”
Seeing Angelides perform as Welder is an entirely different experience. He also appears on-stage wearing his trademark welding mask, which can be seen prominently on the album cover for “Florescence.” “Since I had to make a second character to release this material I had to come up with a concept,” Angelides shared. “The metaphorical idea of welding and changing something from its original shape felt cool to me. For some reason the idea of actually wearing the mask and making a whole persona based on it seemed right.”
He added, “When I perform, I only play that character’s music. I never want to confuse the audience. That would defeat the purpose of releasing music under two names. At King King, I’ll be playing material from the two Welder albums.”
A Balancing Act
Between balancing two busy production aliases as well as his personal life, Angelides’s current tour as Welder will be a brief one. So fans are encouraged to check him out while they can. “I really wish I could tour more, but it’s tough trying to find the time for both personas,” explained Angelides. “I’m able to work on music just fine, but the touring bit and having a life makes it tough. I’m just going to be doing some very select shows for Welder. So keep your eyes and ears peeled for a few shows popping up.”
You won’t want to miss this very special Los Angeles performance by Welder at King King on November 10th, where he’ll be sharing the stage along with Sugarpill and another festival favorite of ours, SaQi. Along with live art courtesy of Michael Pukac, this will be a night of multiple styles of music and incredible creative energy! We encourage you to arrive early. Tickets can still be purchased here.
For the perfect primer, be sure to download “Be My Light” and share with us your thoughts on Welder’s music in the comment section below! To download, right-click here and choose to save file on your computer. Tell us what you think of the song in the comments below, and we’ll give one of our loyal readers a pair of tickets to the show!
As always, we’ll see you on the dance floor!
